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About Me

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Which Is Better For Depression, Jello Pudding or Prozac?

You might have seen this Jello pudding commercial, recently.
In it, a middle-aged, overweight, bald office worker is sitting at his kitchen
table, talking to his 8 or 10 year old son, presumably teaching the boy a life
lesson. Basically, he tells his son (and I paraphrase), "When life gets
you down, eat. Specifically, eat pudding. Jello pudding. It fixes
everything."

More exactly, the dad said to his son, "Imagine waking
up every morning to find you've lost even more hair, then driving to work in
bumper to bumper traffic, and finding that the project you've been working on
for a year was cancelled. The chocolately taste of jello pudding makes up for
all that."

In response, the son slides his container of pudding over to
the dad, saying, "Here. You need this more than I do."

Nice message: "When life gets you down, eat."

Being that I grew up morbidly obese, I really don't need to
hear messages like that. Neither do my patients. Many of them are middle-aged,
overweight, and dissatisfied--not only with their jobs--but with their lives,
in general. Sadly, triggered by these commercials, and, in response to their
sadness, anger, or frustration, they reach for what I like to call "False
Comforters." False Comforters can be things like food, material
possessions, alcohol, drugs, sex, porn, shopping, gambling, etc. Those things
offer short-term distractions from the unwanted emotions and hurt my patients
more in the long run by making them fiscally, relationally, and physically even
sicker.

Because of this ridiculous, yet effective, manipulative TV
commercials, and, in order to become or stay healthy in mind, body, and spirit,
it's best to limit your TV time. Ultimately, it's a matter of life and
death.

For more information about breaking free from emotional
triggers that lead you into unwanted behavior, refer to my latest book, Radical Well-being.